The main platform with a bay at the
east end remains although all station buildings have been demolished.
A fenced public footpath runs along the southern edge of the platform.
At present the large engine shed at the east end of the station
still stands but the whole site is due for redevelopment.

Notes: The station was opened as Peterborough with East being
added on 1st July 1923.

The station closed to freight traffic on 17th April 1966 and
to passengers on 6th June 1966 but was retained as a parcels
depot until 29th June 1970. It was reopened for parcels on 21st
September 1970, finally closing on 23rd December 1970.

The line through Peterborough East from Ely - Peterborough
still still provides a well used link between East Anglia and
the Midlands. Most trains continue beyond Ely to Norwich or
to Cambridge and Stansted Airport (joining in one direction
or in the other the Cambridge-Norwich 'Breckland' Line) or to
Ipswich.

The line is also used extensively by freight trains. The railway
yard at March has recently been reopened.

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE NENE VALLEY RAILWAY
The London & Birmingham railway was completed by the autumn
of 1838 and immediately started considering expanding its territory
to Northampton (which it by-passed by some 5 miles due to the
hilly nature of the town) and then down the Nene valley to Peterborough.
In 1843 the L&BR was given parliamentary assent to construct
a line from Blisworth in Northamptonshire to Peterborough.

Twelve stations were built in an old English or Tudor style:
the names on opening (some changed later) were Northampton,
Castle Ashby, Wellingborough, Ditchford, Higham Ferrers (later
renamed Irthlingborough), Ringstead, Thrapston, Thorpe, Barnwell,
Oundle, Wansford and Overton. The line shared the Peterborough
terminus with the Eastern Counties Railway in return for 'running
powers' over the line to Northampton, giving it access to the
Midlands and the North.

The Northampton to Blisworth section was officially opened
on Tuesday 13 May 1845 and the complete track was opened on
Monday 2 June 1845. On 16 July 1846 the London and North Western
Railway was formed by merging the London & Birmingham Railway
with a number of other companies and during the mid 1800's,
the development of iron ore mining in the area was reactivated
having

been suspended for 200 years by law due to the lack of
wood for charcoal. All available wood being required for the
Navy.

The Great Northern Railway opened a line from Stamford to a
junction with the Nene Valley line just east of Wansford on
9th August 1867 and Wansford became a major junction when the
LNWR opened their new line from Yarwell Junction (just west
of Wansford) to Seaton on 1st November 1879. The 1923 grouping
took the line into the London Midland

and Scottish Railway (LMS).

During the first half of the 20th century the line formed an
important connection from Norwich, Cambridge and eastern England
to Northampton and the Midlands. The line was generally acknowledged
to be a secondary mainline and regularly saw heavy through traffic
but operating costs were high with a large number of manned
level crossings.

With the closure of many of the mines and the popularity of
the car both passenger and freight traffic was in decline after
WW2 and in July 1963 the withdrawal of passenger service between
Northampton Castle and Peterborough East was announced. Despite
a vigorous campaign against closure culminating in a public
meeting at Thrapston, little could be done. A

petition was started and action committee appointed but when the committee asked
for a collection to meet their expenses only £1 18s 3d
was raised! The line was formally closed on Monday 4 May 1964.

Iron Ore trains continued to use the line until 1966 with through
freight traffic finally being withdrawn by British Rail in 1972.

In 1974 the Peterborough Development Corporation bought a section
of the Nene Valley line between Longville and Yarwell Junctions
and leased it to the Peterborough Railway Society to operate
the railway. Between 1974 and May 1977 the line was upgraded
to passenger standards and on 24 May the Railway Inspector passed
the railway as fit for passenger

carrying operations and the
Nene Valley
Railway between Wansford and Orton Mere was officially opened
on 1 June 1977.

In 1986 the line was eastwards to a new terminus at Peterborough
Nene Valley just short of the East Coast Main Line making a
total running length of 7.5 miles and a new station is currently
under construction at Yarwell Junction at the western end of
the line. There are also proposals for a link with the ECML
which would allow trains to run into Peterborough Station.